Everything Red Soup

Are you a soup person? I could have soup any day of the week, but for my kids and Adam, soup isn’t a complete meal in itself, which means I have to come up with some kind of bread to serve along with it, crackers, or a salad on the side. Not the quick and easy meal I always hope soup will be!

This soup is the exception. Because it is thick, hearty and filling, it is a solid meal all on its own. For my kids, a dollop of yogurt and few shreds of cheese complete the meal, but for me, it’s delicious served as is.

Sometimes my family can find tomato-based soups too acidic, but this recipe has the perfect balance. The rice and quinoa are the perfect addition to the soup, as they seem to mellow out the tomatoes and thicken the texture.

It’s called Everything Red Soup because of the beautiful red ingredients; kidney beans, tomatoes, red onions and red peppers. But of course, feel free to sub in other beans or different colored peppers, though I have to say I am partial to the red ingredients, which come together beautifully.

This is a pantry heavy recipe as it uses several canned products. Though I always prefer to use beans I have cooked from dry, I do keep canned beans on hand for last minute, and quick go to meals. Feel free to replace the canned ingredients with whatever fresh ingredients you have on hand.

I just love this soup! It makes fantastic leftovers, is a great make ahead meal and freezes very well too. It all cooks up in one big pot, which makes clean up a cinch! Very versatile and delicious to boot!

I can’t share this soup recipe without mentioning my cousin Neela who, without fail, requests this soup every time she comes over for a meal. So Neela, this recipe is dedicated to you!

Comments

Just made this soup and it’s fantastic! I didn’t have rice, so I made it with 1 cup of quinoa and I didn’t have dried oregano so I used some that I froze from my garden and it still was wonderful. Thanks for the easy recipe:)